Google Nexus One phone is essential to its plans for mobile web domination

Control of mobile web and boosting e-commerce are the goals

By Matt Hamblen

January 7, 2010

CIO UK

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The Google’s Nexus One phone launch today may have captured the headlines, but the creation of a Google-hosted Web store for purchasing its Android devices could ultimately be more significant.

That innovation puts advertising-based Google at the heart of a massive capability to attract to Google's site an annual base of 1 billion mobile-phone buyers globally.

The site will likely offer a range of ads from third-party vendors selling mobile phone add-on equipment and accessories such as earplugs, multimedia content and links to Android Market apps, analysts said today.

Asked about those advertising-related connections today, Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google, made Google's goal clear: "Our primary business is advertising ... a superphone [like Nexus One] is a great way to access the Web, and that ... supports our whole business model, which is advertising. This [phone and store] is the next front of our core business."

Rubin added that Google is not trying to make a profit on sales of the Nexus, but is trying to "make sure we have great access to Google services ... and the best possible Web experience... You buy this and the advertising model takes off."

As an indication of Google's control over the buying process, two T-Mobile representatives today said the Nexus One must be purchased from the Google site and cannot be purchased in T-Mobile stores, although T-Mobile's site provides details on the monthly costs of the device. Google confirmed that the T-Mobile version must be purchased from its store, although it is sold unlocked, and only committed to T-Mobile.

The simplicity of purchasing a mobile phone is what caught the eye of some analysts attending Google's event today, even more than the 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor and other features in the touchscreen Nexus One.

"Today was really less about the Nexus One phone and more about the retail model Google has for selling phones," said Ken Dulaney, an analyst at research firm Gartner. While Dulaney said he liked the Nexus One's hardware and software design, he called the announcement "a gauntlet thrown down to Amazon," the leader in online retail.

Dulaney said Google is "trying to get control of Web-based retailing of phones, but if they get control of this, who knows what happens."

It's likely that Google will support the ad effort through third-party ads on the phone site, for devices such as Bluetooth headsets that work with the featured phones, or even downloadable content, Dulaney said. For now, he said advertising on the phones shouldn't be too prevalent, adding that "eventually Google will get to that."

If Google's phone store does well, it could affect phone sales at brick-and-mortar storefronts, possible leading to consolidation among the thousands of smaller stores operated by wireless carriers, Dulaney predicted.

But he also said it's too early to predict the impact of the business model, with only one Google phone for sale so far. He said Google hasn't named the third party vendor that will take orders and mail out the unlocked phones, since many of the details are still unclear.